Common wisdom is Alfonso Soriano – hitting in the offensive friendly Ballpark in Arlington – will improve on his superb numbers. But an AL official said he expects Soriano to do worse because rather than facing weak pitching staffs in Baltimore, Tampa and Toronto with regularity like he did as a Yankee, he will play nearly 40 percent of his games (if he stays with the Rangers) against Anaheim, Oakland and Seattle.

During his career, Soriano has hit worse against that AL West trio than any AL East team. Plus, he feasted on horrible Ranger pitching (.301 BA/.351 OBP/.553 SLG) and now will have to face the Yankee staff, as well.

Soriano is prominent – along with Seattle’s Bret Boone, Montreal’s Jose Vidro, Baltimore’s Jerry Hairston and Milwaukee’s Junior Spivey – in being mentioned as second basemen who could be traded if their clubs don’t contend. But keep your eye on San Francisco’s Ray Durham. An AL GM said the Giant leadoff man was available all offseason, but with three years at $19.5 million left on his pact, there were no takers. However, possible contenders such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Twins, White Sox, A’s, Phillies, Cardinals and Dodgers could need second baseman, so demand could lead to Durham becoming a hotter commodity.

The Indians wanted the Mets’ best position prospect, David Wright, for Milton Bradley.

The Dodgers got Bradley for their anemic offense. Interestingly, GM Paul DePodesta has indicated to fellow executives he actually doesn’t like his rotation either, which was supposed to be a strength. L.A. is spending about $30 million on Darren Dreifort (bumped to the pen), Kaz Ishii (control problems), Hideo Nomo (lost velocity) and Jeff Weaver (good first start off of a horrid spring). It has been so bad DePodesta has offered some hesitancy about moving Odalis Perez, though he is a malcontent in his walk year represented by Scott Boras.

One player DePodesta has revealed he could move that the previous regime would not is elite set-up man Guillermo Mota. The prospect he did move for Bradley, outfielder Franklin Gutierrez, was compared to a young Ellis Burks by a scout who watched him all last year in Single-A.

The best Japanese pitcher who might come to the States after the season is Seibu ace Daisuke Matsuzaka. But clubs have to be concerned about the heavier workloads in Japan. On Opening Day – yes, Opening Day – against Bobby Valentine‘s Chiba Lotte Marines, Matsuzaka was left out to throw 164 pitches.

On the subject of abuse, the Yanks’ greatest concern about obtaining Javier Vazquez was not his lack of big-game pedigree, but what they felt was Montreal manager Frank Robinson‘s overuse of his ace. Vazquez threw the second-most pitchers (3,741) in the majors last year and the ninth most in 2002.